Accommodating locals in the remote Himalayan region of Ladakh want tourists to come and stay in their homes

Slideshow: Homestays in Ladakh

There was no doubt it was the work of a snow leopard. Tsewang Namgayl held up
a yak skin that had been drying in the sun. It had a gaping hole at the
shoulder. When he found it, the young yak had only just been killed. “The
Dalai Lama has told us to protect the snow leopard,” said Tsewang, sanguine
about the loss of a valuable animal. “It has to eat, too.”

As folds of sunlight withdrew up the mountainsides, leaving flashes of molten
bronze on the peaks above, we headed up the valley to meet Tsewang’s father,
who was bringing the young stock and cows down from the high pasture. “He’s
not usually this late,” Tsewang said, with a note of concern.

My daughter and I were staying in the house of Tsewang’s parents, in the tiny
village of Likhir, a few miles down the valley. It is one